2012 top stories: 9. Foothills Mall redevelopment

Dec. 27, 2012

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Written by

Josh Awtry

A rendering shows an interior view of Foothills, the redeveloped Foothills Mall. / Courtesty of Alberta Development Partners

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Web editor's note: Over the next few days, the Coloradoan is releasing a list of top stories of the year as voted on by the readers. The full list will run in Sunday's Coloradoan.

The $39.6 million sale of Fort Collins’ sputtering Midtown mall in July brought with it both hope for a rejuvenated shopping experience and grumblings about city government’s proper role in economic development.

New mall developers Walton Foothills Holdings VI plan an upscale, indoor/outdoor shopping center to be open by the 2014 winter holiday season. Absent in those plans, however, is the existing Sears, which owns its space at the mall.

The Fort Collins City Council in December voted in a rule change that will allow developers to move forward without owning the Sears property, as city council eyes a Jan. 15 decision of whether to sweep Sears out by invoking eminent domain.